THROUGH THE MIST.
The year that followed was the saddest Christie had ever known, for she
suffered a sort of poverty which is more difficult to bear than actual
want, since money cannot lighten it, and the rarest charity alone can
minister to it. Her heart was empty and she could not fill it; her soul
was hungry and she could not feed it; life was cold and dark and she
could not warm and brighten it, for she knew not where to go.
She tried to help herself by all the means in her power, and when
effort after effort failed she said: “I am not good enough yet to
deserve happiness. I think too much of human love, too little of
divine. When I have made God my friend perhaps He will let me find and
keep one heart to make life happy with. How shall I know God? Who will
tell me where to find Him, and help me to love and lean upon Him as I
ought?”
In all sincerity she asked these questions, in all sincerity she began
her search, and with pathetic patience waited for an answer. She read
many books, some wise, some vague, some full of superstition, all
unsatisfactory to one who wanted a living God. She went to many
churches, studied many creeds, and watched their fruits as well as she
could; but still remained unsatisfied. Some were cold and narrow, some
seemed theatrical and superficial, some stern and terrible, none
simple, sweet, and strong enough for humanity’s many needs. There was
too much machinery, too many walls, laws, and penalties between the
Father and His children. Too much fear, too little love; too many
saints and intercessors; too little faith in the instincts of the soul
which turns to God as flowers to the sun. Too much idle strife about
names and creeds; too little knowledge of the natural religion which
has no name but godliness, whose creed is boundless and benignant as
the sunshine, whose faith is as the tender trust of little children in
their mother’s love.
Nowhere did Christie find this all-sustaining power, this paternal
friend, and comforter, and after months of patient searching she gave
up her quest, saying, despondently:
“I’m afraid I never shall get religion, for all that’s offered me seems
so poor, so narrow, or so hard that I cannot take it for my stay. A God
of wrath I cannot love; a God that must be propitiated, adorned, and
adored like an idol I cannot respect; and a God who can be blinded to
men’s iniquities through the week by a little beating of the breast and
bowing down on the seventh day, I cannot serve. I want a Father to whom
I can go with all my sins and sorrows, all my hopes and joys, as freely
and fearlessly as I used to go to my human father, sure of help and
sympathy and love. Shall I ever find Him?”
Alas, poor Christie! she was going through the sorrowful perplexity
that comes to so many before they learn that religion cannot be given
or bought, but must grow as trees grow, needing frost and snow, rain
and wind to strengthen it before it is deep-rooted in the soul; that
God is in the hearts of all, and they that seek shall surely find Him
when they need Him most.
So Christie waited for religion to reveal itself to her, and while she
waited worked with an almost desperate industry, trying to buy a little
happiness for herself by giving a part of her earnings to those whose
needs money could supply. She clung to her little room, for there she
could live her own life undisturbed, and preferred to stint herself in
other ways rather than give up this liberty. Day after day she sat
there sewing health of mind and body into the long seams or dainty
stitching that passed through her busy hands, and while she sewed she
thought sad, bitter, oftentimes rebellious thoughts.
It was the worst life she could have led just then, for, deprived of
the active, cheerful influences she most needed, her mind preyed on
itself, slowly and surely, preparing her for the dark experience to
come. She knew that there was fitter work for her somewhere, but how to
find it was a problem which wiser women have often failed to solve. She
was no pauper, yet was one of those whom poverty sets at odds with the
world, for favors burden and dependence makes the bread bitter unless
love brightens the one and sweetens the other.
There are many Christies, willing to work, yet unable to bear the
contact with coarser natures which makes labor seem degrading, or to
endure the hard struggle for the bare necessities of life when life has
lost all that makes it beautiful. People wonder when such as she say
they can find little to do; but to those who know nothing of the pangs
of pride, the sacrifices of feeling, the martyrdoms of youth, love,
hope, and ambition that go on under the faded cloaks of these poor
gentle-women, who tell them to go into factories, or scrub in kitchens,
for there is work enough for all, the most convincing answer would be,
“Try it.”
Christie kept up bravely till a wearisome low fever broke both strength
and spirit, and brought the weight of debt upon her when least fitted
to bear or cast it off. For the first time she began to feel that she
had nerves which would rebel, and a heart that could not long endure
isolation from its kind without losing the cheerful courage which
hitherto had been her staunchest friend. Perfect rest, kind care, and
genial society were the medicines she needed, but there was no one to
minister to her, and she went blindly on along the road so many women
tread.
She left her bed too soon, fearing to ask too much of the busy people
who had done their best to be neighborly. She returned to her work when
it felt heavy in her feeble hands, for debt made idleness seem wicked
to her conscientious mind. And, worst of all, she fell back into the
bitter, brooding mood which had become habitual to her since she lived
alone. While the tired hands slowly worked, the weary brain ached and
burned with heavy thoughts, vain longings, and feverish fancies, till
things about her sometimes seemed as strange and spectral as the
phantoms that had haunted her half-delirious sleep. Inexpressibly
wretched were the dreary days, the restless nights, with only pain and
labor for companions. The world looked very dark to her, life seemed an
utter failure, God a delusion, and the long, lonely years before her
too hard to be endured.
It is not always want, insanity, or sin that drives women to desperate
deaths; often it is a dreadful loneliness of heart, a hunger for home
and friends, worse than starvation, a bitter sense of wrong in being
denied the tender ties, the pleasant duties, the sweet rewards that can
make the humblest life happy; a rebellious protest against God, who,
when they cry for bread, seems to offer them a stone. Some of these
impatient souls throw life away, and learn too late how rich it might
have been with a stronger faith, a more submissive spirit. Others are
kept, and slowly taught to stand and wait, till blest with a happiness
the sweeter for the doubt that went before.
There came a time to Christie when the mist about her was so thick she
would have stumbled and fallen had not the little candle, kept alight
by her own hand, showed her how far “a good deed shines in a naughty
world;” and when God seemed utterly forgetful of her He sent a friend
to save and comfort her.
March winds were whistling among the house-tops, and the sky was
darkening with a rainy twilight as Christie folded up her finished
work, stretched her weary limbs, and made ready for her daily walk.
Even this was turned to profit, for then she took home her work, went
in search of more, and did her own small marketing. As late hours and
unhealthy labor destroyed appetite, and unpaid debts made each mouthful
difficult to swallow with Mrs. Flint’s hard eye upon her, she had
undertaken to supply her own food, and so lessen the obligation that
burdened her. An unwise retrenchment, for, busied with the tasks that
must be done, she too often neglected or deferred the meals to which no
society lent interest, no appetite gave flavor; and when the fuel was
withheld the fire began to die out spark by spark.
As she stood before the little mirror, smoothing the hair upon her
forehead, she watched the face reflected there, wondering if it could
be the same she used to see so full of youth and hope and energy.
“Yes, I’m growing old; my youth is nearly over, and at thirty I shall
be a faded, dreary woman, like so many I see and pity. It’s hard to
come to this after trying so long to find my place, and do my duty. I’m
a failure after all, and might as well have stayed with Aunt Betsey or
married Joe.”
“Miss Devon, to-day is Saturday, and I’m makin’ up my bills, so I’ll
trouble you for your month’s board, and as much on the old account as
you can let me have.”
Mrs. Flint spoke, and her sharp voice rasped the silence like a file,
for she had entered without knocking, and her demand was the first
intimation of her presence.
Christie turned slowly round, for there was no elasticity in her
motions now; through the melancholy anxiety her face always wore of
late, there came the worried look of one driven almost beyond
endurance, and her hands began to tremble nervously as she tied on her
bonnet. Mrs. Flint was a hard woman, and dunned her debtors
relentlessly; Christie dreaded the sight of her, and would have left
the house had she been free of debt.
“I am just going to take these things home and get more work. I am sure
of being paid, and you shall have all I get. But, for Heaven’s sake,
give me time.”
Two days and a night of almost uninterrupted labor had given a severe
strain to her nerves, and left her in a dangerous state. Something in
her face arrested Mrs. Flint’s attention; she observed that Christie
was putting on her best cloak and hat, and to her suspicious eye the
bundle of work looked unduly large.
It had been a hard day for the poor woman, for the cook had gone off in
a huff; the chamber girl been detected in petty larceny; two desirable
boarders had disappointed her; and the incapable husband had fallen
ill, so it was little wonder that her soul was tried, her sharp voice
sharper, and her sour temper sourer than ever.
“I have heard of folks putting on their best things and going out, but
never coming back again, when they owed money. It’s a mean trick, but
it’s sometimes done by them you wouldn’t think it of,” she said, with
an aggravating sniff of intelligence.
To be suspected of dishonesty was the last drop in Christie’s full cup.
She looked at the woman with a strong desire to do something violent,
for every nerve was tingling with irritation and anger. But she
controlled herself, though her face was colorless and her hands were
more tremulous than before. Unfastening her comfortable cloak she
replaced it with a shabby shawl; took off her neat bonnet and put on a
hood, unfolded six linen shirts, and shook them out before her
landlady’s eyes; then retied the parcel, and, pausing on the threshold
of the door, looked back with an expression that haunted the woman long
afterward, as she said, with the quiver of strong excitement in her
voice:
“Mrs. Flint, I have always dealt honorably by you; I always mean to do
it, and don’t deserve to be suspected of dishonesty like that. I leave
every thing I own behind me, and if I don’t come back, you can sell
them all and pay yourself, for I feel now as if I never wanted to see
you or this room again.”
Then she went rapidly away, supported by her indignation, for she had
done her best to pay her debts; had sold the few trinkets she
possessed, and several treasures given by the Carrols, to settle her
doctor’s bill, and had been half killing herself to satisfy Mrs.
Flint’s demands. The consciousness that she had been too lavish in her
generosity when fortune smiled upon her, made the present want all the
harder to bear. But she would neither beg nor borrow, though she knew
Harry would delight to give, and Uncle Enos lend her money, with a
lecture on extravagance, gratis.
“I’ll paddle my own canoe as long as I can,” she said, sternly; “and
when I must ask help I’ll turn to strangers for it, or scuttle my boat,
and go down without troubling any one.”
When she came to her employer’s door, the servant said: “Missis was
out;” then seeing Christie’s disappointed face, she added,
confidentially:
“If it’s any comfort to know it, I can tell you that missis wouldn’t
have paid you if she had a been to home. There’s been three other women
here with work, and she’s put ’em all off. She always does, and beats
’em down into the bargain, which ain’t genteel to my thinkin’.”
“She promised me I should be well paid for these, because I undertook
to get them done without fail. I’ve worked day and night rather than
disappoint her, and felt sure of my money,” said Christie,
despondently.
“I’m sorry, but you won’t get it. She told me to tell you your prices
was too high, and she could find folks to work cheaper.”
“She did not object to the price when I took the work, and I have
half-ruined my eyes over the fine stitching. See if it isn’t nicely
done.” And Christie displayed her exquisite needlework with pride.
The girl admired it, and, having a grievance of her own, took
satisfaction in berating her mistress.
“It’s a shame! These things are part of a present, the ladies are going
to give the minister; but I don’t believe he’ll feel easy in ’em if
poor folks is wronged to get ’em. Missis won’t pay what they are worth,
I know; for, don’t you see, the cheaper the work is done, the more
money she has to make a spread with her share of the present? It’s my
opinion you’d better hold on to these shirts till she pays for ’em
handsome.”
“No; I’ll keep my promise, and I hope she will keep hers. Tell her I
need the money very much, and have worked very hard to please her. I’ll
come again on Monday, if I’m able.”
Christie’s lips trembled as she spoke, for she was feeble still, and
the thought of that hard-earned money had been her sustaining hope
through the weary hours spent over that ill-paid work. The girl said
“Good-bye,” with a look of mingled pity and respect, for in her eyes
the seamstress was more of a lady than the mistress in this
transaction.
Christie hurried to another place, and asked eagerly if the young
ladies had any work for her. “Not a stitch,” was the reply, and the
door closed. She stood a moment looking down upon the passers-by
wondering what answer she would get if she accosted any one; and had
any especially benevolent face looked back at her she would have been
tempted to do it, so heart-sick and forlorn did she feel just then.
She knocked at several other doors, to receive the same reply. She even
tried a slop-shop, but it was full, and her pale face was against her.
Her long illness had lost her many patrons, and if one steps out from
the ranks of needle-women, it is very hard to press in again, so
crowded are they, and so desperate the need of money.
One hope remained, and, though the way was long, and a foggy drizzle
had set in, she minded neither distance nor the chilly rain, but
hurried away with anxious thoughts still dogging her steps. Across a
long bridge, through muddy roads and up a stately avenue she went,
pausing, at last, spent and breathless at another door.
A servant with a wedding-favor in his button-hole opened to her, and,
while he went to deliver her urgent message, she peered in wistfully
from the dreary world without, catching glimpses of home-love and
happiness that made her heart ache for very pity of its own loneliness.
A wedding was evidently afoot, for hall and staircase blazed with light
and bloomed with flowers. Smiling men and maids ran to and fro; opening
doors showed tables beautiful with bridal white and silver; savory
odors filled the air; gay voices echoed above and below; and once she
caught a brief glance at the bonny bride, standing with her father’s
arm about her, while her mother gave some last, loving touch to her
array; and a group of young sisters with April faces clustered round
her.
The pretty picture vanished all too soon; the man returned with a
hurried “No” for answer, and Christie went out into the deepening
twilight with a strange sense of desperation at her heart. It was not
the refusal, not the fear of want, nor the reaction of overtaxed nerves
alone; it was the sharpness of the contrast between that other woman’s
fate and her own that made her wring her hands together, and cry out,
bitterly:
“Oh, it isn’t fair, it isn’t right, that she should have so much and I
so little! What have I ever done to be so desolate and miserable, and
never to find any happiness, however hard I try to do what seems my
duty?”
There was no answer, and she went slowly down the long avenue, feeling
that there was no cause for hurry now, and even night and rain and wind
were better than her lonely room or Mrs. Flint’s complaints. Afar off
the city lights shone faintly through the fog, like pale lamps seen in
dreams; the damp air cooled her feverish cheeks; the road was dark and
still, and she longed to lie down and rest among the sodden leaves.
When she reached the bridge she saw the draw was up, and a spectral
ship was slowly passing through. With no desire to mingle in the crowd
that waited on either side, she paused, and, leaning on the railing,
let her thoughts wander where they would. As she stood there the heavy
air seemed to clog her breath and wrap her in its chilly arms. She felt
as if the springs of life were running down, and presently would stop;
for, even when the old question, “What shall I do?” came haunting her,
she no longer cared even to try to answer it, and had no feeling but
one of utter weariness. She tried to shake off the strange mood that
was stealing over her, but spent body and spent brain were not strong
enough to obey her will, and, in spite of her efforts to control it,
the impulse that had seized her grew more intense each moment.
“Why should I work and suffer any longer for myself alone?” she
thought; “why wear out my life struggling for the bread I have no heart
to eat? I am not wise enough to find my place, nor patient enough to
wait until it comes to me. Better give up trying, and leave room for
those who have something to live for.”
Many a stronger soul has known a dark hour when the importunate wish
has risen that it were possible and right to lay down the burdens that
oppress, the perplexities that harass, and hasten the coming of the
long sleep that needs no lullaby. Such an hour was this to Christie,
for, as she stood there, that sorrowful bewilderment which we call
despair came over her, and ruled her with a power she could not resist.
A flight of steps close by led to a lumber wharf, and, scarcely knowing
why, she went down there, with a vague desire to sit still somewhere,
and think her way out of the mist that seemed to obscure her mind. A
single tall lamp shone at the farther end of the platform, and
presently she found herself leaning her hot forehead against the iron
pillar, while she watched with curious interest the black water rolling
sluggishly below.
She knew it was no place for her, yet no one waited for her, no one
would care if she staid for ever, and, yielding to the perilous
fascination that drew her there, she lingered with a heavy throbbing in
her temples, and a troop of wild fancies whirling through her brain.
Something white swept by below,—only a broken oar—but she began to
wonder how a human body would look floating through the night. It was
an awesome fancy, but it took possession of her, and, as it grew, her
eyes dilated, her breath came fast, and her lips fell apart, for she
seemed to see the phantom she had conjured up, and it wore the likeness
of herself.
With an ominous chill creeping through her blood, and a growing tumult
in her mind, she thought, “I must go,” but still stood motionless,
leaning over the wide gulf, eager to see where that dead thing would
pass away. So plainly did she see it, so peaceful was the white face,
so full of rest the folded hands, so strangely like, and yet unlike,
herself, that she seemed to lose her identity, and wondered which was
the real and which the imaginary Christie. Lower and lower she bent;
looser and looser grew her hold upon the pillar; faster and faster beat
the pulses in her temples, and the rush of some blind impulse was
swiftly coming on, when a hand seized and caught her back.
For an instant every thing grew black before her eyes, and the earth
seemed to slip away from underneath her feet. Then she was herself
again, and found that she was sitting on a pile of lumber, with her
head uncovered, and a woman’s arm about her.
[Illustration: THE RESCUE.]
“Was I going to drown myself?” she asked, slowly, with a fancy that she
had been dreaming frightfully, and some one had wakened her.
“You were most gone; but I came in time, thank God! O Christie! don’t
you know me?”
Ah! no fear of that; for with one bewildered look, one glad cry of
recognition, Christie found her friend again, and was gathered close to
Rachel’s heart.
“My dear, my dear, what drove you to it? Tell me all, and let me help
you in your trouble, as you helped me in mine,” she said, as she
tenderly laid the poor, white face upon her breast, and wrapped her
shawl about the trembling figure clinging to her with such passionate
delight.
“I have been ill; I worked too hard; I’m not myself to-night. I owe
money. People disappoint and worry me; and I was so worn out, and weak,
and wicked, I think I meant to take my life.”
“No, dear; it was not you that meant to do it, but the weakness and the
trouble that bewildered you. Forget it all, and rest a little, safe
with me; then we’ll talk again.”
Rachel spoke soothingly, for Christie shivered and sighed as if her own
thoughts frightened her. For a moment they sat silent, while the mist
trailed its white shroud above them, as if death had paused to beckon a
tired child away, but, finding her so gently cradled on a warm, human
heart, had relented and passed on, leaving no waif but the broken oar
for the river to carry toward the sea.
“Tell me about yourself, Rachel. Where have you been so long? I’ve
looked and waited for you ever since the second little note you sent me
on last Christinas; but you never came.”
“I’ve been away, dear heart, hard at work in another city, larger and
wickeder than this. I tried to get work here, that I might be near you;
but that cruel Cotton always found me out; and I was so afraid I should
get desperate that I went away where I was not known. There it came
into my mind to do for others more wretched than I what you had done
for me. God put the thought into my heart, and He helped me in my work,
for it has prospered wonderfully. All this year I have been busy with
it, and almost happy; for I felt that your love made me strong to do
it, and that, in time, I might grow good enough to be your friend.”
“See what I am, Rachel, and never say that any more!”
“Hush, my poor dear, and let me talk. You are not able to do any thing,
but rest, and listen. I knew how many poor souls went wrong when the
devil tempted them; and I gave all my strength to saving those who were
going the way I went. I had no fear, no shame to overcome, for I was
one of them. They would listen to me, for I knew what I spoke; they
could believe in salvation, for I was saved; they did not feel so
outcast and forlorn when I told them you had taken me into your
innocent arms, and loved me like a sister. With every one I helped my
power increased, and I felt as if I had washed away a little of my own
great sin. O Christie! never think it’s time to die till you are
called; for the Lord leaves us till we have done our work, and never
sends more sin and sorrow than we can bear and be the better for, if we
hold fast by Him.”
So beautiful and brave she looked, so full of strength and yet of meek
submission was her voice, that Christie’s heart was thrilled; for it
was plain that Rachel had learned how to distil balm from the
bitterness of life, and, groping in the mire to save lost souls, had
found her own salvation there.
“Show me how to grow pious, strong, and useful, as you are,” she said.
“I am all wrong, and feel as if I never could get right again, for I
haven’t energy enough to care what becomes of me.”
“I know the state, Christie: I’ve been through it all! but when _I_
stood where you stand now, there was no hand to pull me back, and I
fell into a blacker river than this underneath our feet. Thank God, I
came in time to save you from either death!”
“How did you find me?” asked Christie, when she had echoed in her heart
the thanksgiving that came with such fervor from the other’s lips.
“I passed you on the bridge. I did not see your face, but you stood
leaning there so wearily, and looking down into the water, as I used to
look, that I wanted to speak, but did not; and I went on to comfort a
poor girl who is dying yonder. Something turned me back, however; and
when I saw you down here I knew why I was sent. You were almost gone,
but I kept you; and when I had you in my arms I knew you, though it
nearly broke my heart to find you here. Now, dear, come home.
“Home! ah, Rachel, I’ve got no home, and for want of one I shall be
lost!”
The lament that broke from her was more pathetic than the tears that
streamed down, hot and heavy, melting from her heart the frost of her
despair. Her friend let her weep, knowing well the worth of tears, and
while Christie sobbed herself quiet, Rachel took thought for her as
tenderly as any mother.
When she had heard the story of Christie’s troubles, she stood up as if
inspired with a happy thought, and stretching both hands to her friend,
said, with an air of cheerful assurance most comforting to see:
“I’ll take care of you; come with me, my poor Christie, and I’ll give
you a home, very humble, but honest and happy.”
“With you, Rachel?”
“No, dear, I must go back to my work, and you are not fit for that.
Neither must you go again to your own room, because for you it is
haunted, and the worst place you could be in. You want change, and I’ll
give you one. It will seem queer at first, but it is a wholesome place,
and just what you need.”
“I’ll do any thing you tell me. I’m past thinking for myself to-night,
and only want to be taken care of till I find strength and courage
enough to stand alone,” said Christie, rising slowly and looking about
her with an aspect as helpless and hopeless as if the cloud of mist was
a wall of iron.
Rachel put on her bonnet for her and wrapped her shawl about her,
saying, in a tender voice, that warmed the other’s heart:
“Close by lives a dear, good woman who often befriends such as you and
I. She will take you in without a question, and love to do it, for she
is the most hospitable soul I know. Just tell her you want work, that I
sent you, and there will be no trouble. Then, when you know her a
little, confide in her, and you will never come to such a pass as this
again. Keep up your heart, dear; I’ll not leave you till you are safe.”
So cheerily she spoke, so confident she looked, that the lost
expression passed from Christie’s face, and hand in hand they went away
together,—two types of the sad sisterhood standing on either shore of
the dark river that is spanned by a Bridge of Sighs.
Rachel led her friend toward the city, and, coming to the mechanics’
quarter, stopped before the door of a small, old house.
“Just knock, say ‘Rachel sent me,’ and you’ll find yourself at home.”
“Stay with me, or let me go with you. I can’t lose you again, for I
need you very much,” pleaded Christie, clinging to her friend.
“Not so much as that poor girl dying all alone. She’s waiting for me,
and I must go. But I’ll write soon; and remember, Christie, I shall
feel as if I had only paid a very little of my debt if you go back to
the sad old life, and lose your faith and hope again. God bless and
keep you, and when we meet next time let me find a happier face than
this.”
Rachel kissed it with her heart on her lips, smiled her brave sweet
smile, and vanished in the mist.
Pausing a moment to collect herself, Christie recollected that she had
not asked the name of the new friend whose help she was about to ask. A
little sign on the door caught her eye, and, bending down, she managed
to read by the dim light of the street lamp these words:
“C. WILKINS, Clear-Starcher.
“Laces done up in the best style.”
Too tired to care whether a laundress or a lady took her in, she
knocked timidly, and, while she waited for an answer to her summons,
stood listening to the noises within.
A swashing sound as of water was audible, likewise a scuffling as of
flying feet; some one clapped hands, and a voice said, warningly, “Into
your beds this instant minute or I’ll come to you! Andrew Jackson, give
Gusty a boost; Ann Lizy, don’t you tech Wash’s feet to tickle ’em. Set
pretty in the tub, Victory, dear, while ma sees who’s rappin’.”
[Illustration: “C. WILKINS, CLEAR STARCHER.”]
Then heavy footsteps approached, the door opened wide, and a large
woman appeared, with fuzzy red hair, no front teeth, and a plump, clean
face, brightly illuminated by the lamp she carried.
“If you please, Rachel sent me. She thought you might be able”—
Christie got no further, for C. Wilkins put out a strong bare arm,
still damp, and gently drew her in, saying, with the same motherly tone
as when addressing her children, “Come right in, dear, and don’t mind
the clutter things is in. I’m givin’ the children their Sat’day
scrubbin’, and they will slop and kite ’round, no matter ef I do spank
’em.”
Talking all the way in such an easy, comfortable voice that Christie
felt as if she must have heard it before, Mrs. Wilkins led her
unexpected guest into a small kitchen, smelling suggestively of
soap-suds and warm flat-irons. In the middle of this apartment was a
large tub; in the tub a chubby child sat, sucking a sponge and staring
calmly at the new-comer with a pair of big blue eyes, while little
drops shone in the yellow curls and on the rosy shoulders.
“How pretty!” cried Christie, seeing nothing else and stopping short to
admire this innocent little Venus rising from the sea.
“So she is! Ma’s darlin’ lamb! and ketehin’ her death a cold this
blessed minnit. Set right down, my dear, and tuck your wet feet into
the oven. I’ll have a dish o’ tea for you in less ’n no time; and while
it’s drawin’ I’ll clap Victory Adelaide into her bed.”
Christie sank into a shabby but most hospitable old chair, dropped her
bonnet on the floor, put her feet in the oven, and, leaning back,
watched Mrs. Wilkins wipe the baby as if she had come for that especial
purpose. As Rachel predicted, she found herself, at home at once, and
presently was startled to hear a laugh from her own lips when several
children in red and yellow flannel night-gowns darted like meteors
across the open doorway of an adjoining room, with whoops and howls,
bursts of laughter, and antics of all sorts.
How pleasant it was; that plain room, with no ornaments but the happy
faces, no elegance, but cleanliness, no wealth, but hospitality and
lots of love. This latter blessing gave the place its charm, for,
though Mrs. Wilkins threatened to take her infants’ noses off if they
got out of bed again, or “put ’em in the kettle and bile ’em” they
evidently knew no fear, but gambolled all the nearer to her for the
threat; and she beamed upon them with such maternal tenderness and
pride that her homely face grew beautiful in Christie’s eyes.
When the baby was bundled up in a blanket and about to be set down
before the stove to simmer a trifle before being put to bed, Christie
held out her arms, saying with an irresistible longing in her eyes and
voice:
“Let me hold her! I love babies dearly, and it seems as if it would do
me more good than quarts of tea to cuddle her, if she’ll let me.”
“There now, that’s real sensible; and mother’s bird’ll set along with
you as good as a kitten. Toast her tootsies wal, for she’s croupy, and
I have to be extra choice of her.”
“How good it feels!” sighed Christie, half devouring the warm and rosy
little bunch in her lap, while baby lay back luxuriously, spreading her
pink toes to the pleasant warmth and smiling sleepily up in the hungry
face that hung over her.
Mrs. Wilkins’s quick eyes saw it all, and she said to herself, in the
closet, as she cut bread and rattled down a cup and saucer:
“That’s what she wants, poor creeter; I’ll let her have a right nice
time, and warm and feed and chirk her up, and then I’ll see what’s to
be done for her. She ain’t one of the common sort, and goodness only
knows what Rachel sent her here for. She’s poor and sick, but she ain’t
bad. I can tell that by her face, and she’s the sort I like to help.
It’s a mercy I ain’t eat my supper, so she can have that bit of meat
and the pie.”
Putting a tray on the little table, the good soul set forth all she had
to give, and offered it with such hospitable warmth that Christie ate
and drank with unaccustomed appetite, finishing off deliciously with a
kiss from baby before she was borne away by her mother to the back
bedroom, where peace soon reigned.
“Now let me tell you who I am, and how I came to you in such an
unceremonious way,” began Christie, when her hostess returned and found
her warmed, refreshed, and composed by a woman’s three best
comforters,—kind words, a baby, and a cup of tea.
“’Pears to me, dear, I wouldn’t rile myself up by telling any
werryments to-night, but git right warm inter bed, and have a good long
sleep,” said Mrs. Wilkins, without a ray of curiosity in her wholesome
red face.
“But you don’t know any thing about me, and I may be the worst woman in
the world,” cried Christie, anxious to prove herself worthy of such
confidence.
“I know that you want takin’ care of, child, or Rachel wouldn’t a sent
you. Ef I can help any one, I don’t want no introduction; and ef you be
the wust woman in the world (which you ain’t), I wouldn’t shet my door
on you, for then you’d need a lift more’n you do now.”
Christie could only put out her hand, and mutely thank her new friend
with full eyes.
“You’re fairly tuckered out, you poor soul, so you jest come right up
chamber and let me tuck you up, else you’ll be down sick. It ain’t a
mite of inconvenience; the room is kep for company, and it’s all ready,
even to a clean night-cap. I’m goin’ to clap this warm flat to your
feet when you’re fixed; it’s amazin’ comfortin’ and keeps your head
cool.”
Up they went to a tidy little chamber, and Christie found herself laid
down to rest none too soon, for she was quite worn out. Sleep began to
steal over her the moment her head touched the pillow, in spite of the
much beruffled cap which Mrs. Wilkins put on with visible pride in its
stiffly crimped borders. She was dimly conscious of a kind hand tucking
her up, a comfortable voice purring over her, and, best of all, a
motherly good-night kiss, then the weary world faded quite away and she
was at rest.